1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates generally to the field of safety and alarm systems and more particularly to improved methods for monitoring various components within such systems.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Alarm systems, such as fire alarm systems, typically include a plurality of sensor devices that are installed throughout a monitored building which are configured to detect the presence of an alarm condition such as, for example, the presence of fire, smoke, etc. These systems also include various notification appliances (e.g. horn/strobe units) that notify occupants of the building of a potentially hazardous condition detected by one or more of the plurality of sensor devices to enable the occupants to evacuate the building or take other action before being harmed. It is therefore critically important that the sensors and notification appliances of alarm systems always be in good working order.
Governmental entities may require that notification appliances and sensor devices, particularly those of fire alarm systems, be tested and/or inspected periodically to verify that such notification appliances and sensor devices are operating properly and have not been physically compromised in some way. Such testing and inspection are typically performed by one or more designated inspectors who walk through an entire monitored building and physically visit each and every notification appliance and sensor device installed therein. The inspectors may visually inspect each notification appliance and sensor device, may activate each notification appliance and sensor device for a predetermined amount of time to verify functionality and may record the results. A drawback with current testing of notification appliances and sensor devices within alarm systems includes the inability to predict failure of such safety appliances before a catastrophic event. For example, an individual safety appliance may pass an inspection and/or a self-test, for example, by remaining within certain prescribed operating tolerances, and yet still be in the process of degrading in some way. The safety appliance may later fail and may need to be repaired or replaced. In some cases, the repair or replacement may be avoidable or less costly, if it were known earlier that the safety appliance was degrading and/or beginning to fail.